Stock market today: Nifty50 and BSE Sensex, the Indian equity benchmark indices, opened in red on Friday after a strong rally yesterday. While Nifty50 went below 25,000, BSE Sensex was down over 250 points. At 9:16 AM, Nifty50 was trading at 24,996.00, down 66 points or 0.26%.BSE Sensex was at 82,288.75, down 242 points or 0.29%.Indian benchmark indices demonstrated a robust recovery on Thursday, closing positively for two consecutive days.VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited says, “”When aggressive market activity happens against the near consensus view, the market movement can be sharp. Yesterday’s 550-point spike in Nifty from the lows was a classic case of such unexpected contrarian trend. The near consensus view was that FIIs will slowdown purchases in India and might even turn sellers preferring the cheaper Chinese stocks in view of the emerging US-China trade deal.This explains the sharp rise in cash holdings of the mutual funds and DIIs turning sellers.”“But the FII’s aggressive contrarian move against the prevailing consensus by buying stocks for Rs 5393 crores surprised the majority of market participants. The consequent short covering in largecaps must have contributed to the sharp 550-point Nifty rally from the lows yesterday. The momentum now clearly favours largecaps. If the FIIs continue with their buy India strategy the market can further surprise on the upside.But the valuations will get stretched eroding the fundamental support to the market.”Ajit Mishra, Senior Vice President, Research at Religare Broking, says, “A decisive breakout above the 25,200 level could potentially take the index towards the 25,400+ zone. We continue to advocate a buy on dips strategy, with a strong emphasis on selective stock picking, especially in light of overbought conditions in certain segments.”US stocks concluded with mixed results as Cisco Systems advanced following positive forecasts, whilst UnitedHealth declined after reports emerged about a criminal investigation into the company.Asian stocks tracked Wall Street’s positive performance, indicating continued momentum in market rally. Traders factored in two Federal Reserve rate reductions this year, leading to gains in Treasuries on Thursday.Friday saw modest gains in oil prices, recovering from the previous day’s significant decline. Weekly gains exceeded 1% as positive US-China trade relations overshadowed potential Iranian supply increases.Gold prices decreased heading towards their largest weekly fall in six months. The stronger dollar position and reduced trade tensions diminished gold’s safe-haven appeal.Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) maintained net purchasing positions in Indian equities, acquiring shares worth Rs 5,392.94 crore on Thursday, whilst domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 1,668.47 crore.(Disclaimer: Recommendations and views on the stock market and other asset classes given by experts are their own. These opinions do not represent the views of The Times of India)
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